Users who Dugg This
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seattlegirluwJul 23, 2010Submitter
I say he deserves to pay the bill if he's that clueless about texting. (Or just tell the kid now he can't go to college.)
badqatJul 23, 2010
Seeing as how his parents didn't sit him down to discuss things like txting, the blame falls squarely on their shoulders.
They got lucky - because they actually had unlimited texting - but others have not been so lucky. Anyone with the gumption to buy their 12 year old a cell phone ought to know that kids love to txt, txt, and txt some more. My 14 year old goes through 3-5k txt messages a month.
blaydcorJul 24, 2010
The word is actually "text".
gbudavidJul 23, 2010
He is fortunate to have any hide left....
evanftJul 24, 2010
Dugg down for obviously not reading the article.
gbudavidJul 24, 2010
OK I read it. A He would NEVER have a Cell Phone on my Tab.
B I would have Beat his A$$ for this.
C He would be an old man before he Paid his Bill but Pay it he would
schmonsJul 24, 2010
read the article!
gbudavidJul 24, 2010
See above:))
ceriliaJul 23, 2010
Reminds me of my sister, constantly texting.
Closed AccountJul 24, 2010
I hate when you go out on dates and they never stop texting...
kilgil27Jul 24, 2010
^^ you're doing it wrong
pinsJul 23, 2010
somebody should charge the author a fee for every time she uses the word 'honeybee'
Closed AccountJul 23, 2010
Seriously, what are kids texting these days? If I were to sit down and replace all of my talking with texting, it wouldn't be enough to equal the number of messages they send.
ng007Jul 24, 2010
Here's a typical conversation (based on observation):
A: hi!
B: sup?
A: nuttin much, u?
B: same ole
A: lol
B: u see big brother last night?
A: nope
B: lol
...
dabekJul 24, 2010
I text only to convey a short quick piece of information. I want to punch people squarely in the face when they send me a text containing nothing but the letter 'k'. I understand, sometimes people want to make sure that the other person knows, "I got it". But when I do it, I make sure to say, "Okay, I'll be there in five minutes." or something like that.
For some people with the full physical (and touchscreen) keyboards, there is no excuse to be THAT lazy to only type ONE letter.
ng007Jul 26, 2010
@Dabek: Don't forget, they have predictive text also. So they can type much, much faster than those who have 12-key phones.
polynikes8Jul 23, 2010
Did any of you even read the article? It was an error. The author had unlimited texts but the carrier missed that and accidentally charged them for all the texts. The bill was corrected and ended up being a regular bill with no hassle involved. Why this author even published this worthless s**t is beyond me.
Closed AccountJul 24, 2010
I think the idea is that it is amazing how much they charge for something that costs them fractions of pennies to do.
Closed AccountJul 24, 2010
I did read the article, which is why I didn't make one of those asinine comments about how irresponsible the boy was. I was simply astounded at the rate of his texting, free or not.
strfxJul 24, 2010
The author is an attention whore, that's all.
therayvenJul 24, 2010
I think the author [Buy car insurance!] just wanted *any* content to [Use Bing!] get people's eyes on this [Change cell phone carriers!] ad-laden s**thole of a website. [Change banks!] Oh, it's MSN? Figures.
captobliviousJul 24, 2010
Ads?
firefox + adblock plus = no ads other than on sites _I_ chose to support. (like digg.)
retsam06Jul 24, 2010
Haha. CaptOblivious lives up to his name.
They were links /in/ the story.
yO0411Jul 24, 2010
Thanks for clearing that up, i didnt feel like reading the whole thing
captobliviousJul 24, 2010
It dosent even cost them fractions of a penny, the 140 char limit + the routing info is exactly the space left empty in the standard ping command that the towers and phones exchange every few seconds to keep you connected anyway.
How much does a tcpip packet cost? That's how they send the messages between towers using exactly the same protocol that locating you for a call does and transmitting the message in the next ping.
stignordasJul 23, 2010
Good thing carriers are charging so much for ALL THAT BANDWIDTH sms uses.
llanowarJul 24, 2010
Can you imagine how much you'd have to pay for your internet if you had to pay that price for bandwidth.
I don't even think Bill Gates could afford that.
biohazard6601Jul 24, 2010
by far one of the most poorly written articles i have ever read... and really thats not that many text messages a day
libertarianslolJul 24, 2010
Nothing important was ever written with one's thumbs.
protodonJul 24, 2010
Sounds like an old man talking to me.
analogassassinJul 24, 2010
Sounds like someone never heard of "The Boondocks."
ng007Jul 24, 2010
At least, outside of emergency situations. SMS has legitimate uses, actually.
libertarianslolJul 24, 2010
having <3 atk lol D: call 911
dabekJul 24, 2010
I'd trust calling someone more in an emergency situation. For some reason when I send a text to someone, there are times when they won't receive that text for hours. I don't know, maybe they just check their phone too late, or the signal legitimately doesn't get there fast enough, but I'd rather stick with the voice call.
retsam06Jul 24, 2010
I read that as "Having Love attack :D"
ng007Jul 24, 2010
Dabek: Sometimes one can't get a sufficiently good signal for a conventional phone call. SMS requires much less of a connection. It has even been recommended by authorities during disasters.
mysql101Jul 24, 2010
buried for being a sensationalist worthless article riddled with ads interjected within the article's text, combined with a headline that was outright misleading.
There is no $1055 bill. T-mobile simply didn't put unlimited text messaging on his phone, causing the initial bill to be higher than expected.
imallvol7Jul 24, 2010
Parenting Fail
protodonJul 24, 2010
Your crazy high cell phone bill is not news. We've been hearing about these since cell phones went mainstream. Who cares?
dlawlrenceJul 24, 2010
what the hell is with these text advertisements every other paragraph, i can't focus on the stupid msn article.
rizzosbackJul 24, 2010
What kind of f**king mental defective is writing this article?
thedrewboy64Jul 24, 2010
wtf?
"Honeybee"?
rootbeerinacanJul 24, 2010
Yeah, I was distracted the whole f**king time because of that!!
thedrewboy64Jul 24, 2010
and what is with all those acronyms that nobody uses?
trainofthought6Jul 24, 2010
YGTBKM!
dabekJul 24, 2010
Seriously, what the f**k is "PTL"?
I've never heard that in my entire life.
thedrewboy64Jul 24, 2010
i googled it, i think it's praise the lord
innuendo24Jul 24, 2010
I work at tmobile customer care and this isn't too terribly uncommon. There is currently a software bug in our sales systems that makes it hard for reps to add messaging to new accounts. A rep can easily work around it but it's not there by default like it should be. They have to go back in an add it. Obvious error is obvious, and T-mobile has a first bill rerate policy wherein if your first bill has any overages on it we will without question set you onto the correct plan and treat your first month like you were on that plan (exlcuding stuff you do on purpose, like downloads or international charges).
I agree with the above, complete non issue.
phpldJul 24, 2010
In other words it is hard to add texting resulting in some customers paying per text which benefits t-mobile, yes?
(not knocking you, just the system)
Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
innuendo24Jul 24, 2010
Not so much, it's just the system for whatever reason doesn't automatically add it into the account like it should. It doesn't cost the customer anything since every one of them calls in. Honest mistakes are honest.
ksoviiJul 24, 2010
Stopped reading after the awful AT&T joke.
freeridstyleeJul 24, 2010
I hope everyone at school calls him honeybee now.
hailfirexJul 24, 2010
I'm still confused whether the author is male or lesbian. If he is a male, why does he write like a chick?
Closed AccountJul 24, 2010
This kid should be forced to pay the entire bill.
Ridiculous.
cristinamkJul 24, 2010
Except there's no bill.
" and then quickly assuring her that all the text charges would be removed from our bill."
"..they had mistakenly billed us for all 4,407 messages."
dabekJul 24, 2010
Did you read the article? There is no bill to pay. This is a just a glitch in the accounting system at T-Mobile. The bill is exactly what it should be at.
Closed AccountJul 24, 2010
I didn't read the article but from the title I can tell it is outrageous.
skews13Jul 24, 2010
On behalf of all responsible parents who do not cater to every whim of their children. To f**king bad. May i suggest classes that offer parenting skills which you obviously lack.Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
iignotusJul 24, 2010
An important parenting skill, for various reasons, is reading comprehension. Something you obviously lack.
roy5000x2Jul 24, 2010
WTF was that article. OMG all of those acronyms really started to PMO! And then the RLs that had nothing to do with the MA? What was up with that.
Closed AccountJul 24, 2010
Not the kids, fault, it's the cheapskate parents fault. T-Mobile has had unlimited text messaging plans for many many years. Sounds like the author got nailed for $1000 because he was trying to save $15/month. Penny wise, pound foolish if you ask me.
Comment is buried, click here to see the rest.
myztryJul 24, 2010
Prepaid mobile phones only for the children. Do American carriers offer that?
Oh, and I giggle a little bit while shaking my head at the thought of paying for incoming messages. What a scam to be pulled on the American public to have people pay for possibly and even likely unsolicited messages.
battmannJul 24, 2010
Another way to show us how stupid people are for giving their kids ce4llphones without restrictions and goes to show just how far the corporations are willing go, to suck every living dime from struggling American lives!
bigsheldyJul 24, 2010
FTA: "The billing period was 30 days. That means my son averaged 68.4 text messages per day. I think I've sent six text messages in my entire life."
Why do you think I would listen to anything you have to say about technology regarding technology you've never f**king used? Also...honeybee? Just stop. One of the worst submissions I've seen on Digg.
Closed AccountJul 24, 2010
Well, this article was a giant waste of time.
Spoiler: The 4000 text messages was billed in error, they had unlimited texting. The phone company fixed it.
Closed AccountJul 24, 2010
Has to be the worst article vie ever read. The title is misleading, the author referred to his wife as honeybee, come on now really? Pet names are not meant for the masses. The worse part about it was the bill ended up being a t-mobile mistake. It seems like the point of the story was either, the mistake, or the amount of texts the kid sent/received. Both were only lightly touched upon.
My story in redards to dealing with t-mobile would have been a much better article. When istarted with t-mobile, i bought a mid range phone. Mid range plan as i only spoke with my wife, and my coworkers via my cell. My first bill was high, but that was for first and last month, and setup fees.I paid off my bill, $220, verified with customer service rep bill was paid in full. Barely used phone before or after. The very next day my phone was shut off. Called customer service, apparently in less them 24 hours I somehow managed to rack up over $500 hundred dollars in charges. But wait there is more. When I called back to speak to a supervisor, the bill magically jump to over $900 that's right people, my bill rose around $400 in 14 hours with my phone disconnected the whole time. No one could explain how my phone racked up so many charges, let alone how it doubled with being shut off. The only answer i recieved was "those are your charges. That's just the way it is" I wrote the CEO, COO, and the VP of marketing, certified mail, stating how I would turn them over to every agency I could in addition to every newspaper in the US. The same day they received the letter an "executive secretary" or at least that's what she claimed to be, called me and said the best they could do was reduce them bill to $97 cancel my contract and waived my early termination fee. So for 6 weeks of service, I paid 800 plus the 200 I paid for a phone I couldn't use anywhere else, talk about a ripoff. Still I sent in a cashiers check to cover the remaining balance but wouldn't you know for years vie still received calls about they bill. Finally a few months ago they sold it to a collection agency, even after I sent in proof multiple time that I made the payment.
Not greatly written, as im not a writer, but more informitive and yet I managed to use the word honeybee only zero times. Take my story put a liitle polish and some adjustments and it would be a better story. Seems like msn has let anyone become a journalist. Buried for stupidity.
Closed AccountJul 24, 2010
I got a £1000 bill once. Took me a few months to pay it off. Never made a bill that big again.